Philadelphia and the Vernacular Avant-garde

Supported by a Discovery grant from the Pew Center for Arts & Heritage, initiated by Sid Sachs of the University of the Arts, Invisible City’s goal is to increase awareness of the cultural contributions of Philadelphia at mid century. This interactive website consists of transcribed oral histories of vital participants in Philadelphia’s avant-garde community of the 1960s and 1970s with videos, images and an extensive chronology.

During this era, the city of Philadelphia exhibited the first Pop Art, happenings, all night musical performances, postminimalist environments, innovative tendencies in urban planning and post-Miesian architecture.

Click the yellow connective arcs to find out more about the associations between the cultural links. Listen to the interviews and read their transcripts.

Contribute to the Chronology

1950

1950

Venues

December 31st, 1950

L.V. (Lewis Victor) Heilbrunn, General Physiologist U of Penn 30 years. Modern cellular biology (died in auto accident) His interest in the arts, particularly in writing and painting, was an everyday interest, not merely evident on a rare visit to a museum. He established in 1950, the Ellen Donovan Gallery to promote the appreciation and sale of the work of living Philadelphia artists. His wife, Ellen Donovan Heilbrunn, is a painter and teacher of art. In his life with her and with his daughter Constance he included his students, and drew them into an appreciation of and sometimes a participation in the arts, which is rare in a world turned more and more toward science and its techniques.

Contribute to the Chronology

We welcome public contributions to this chronology! Please email Sid Sachs at ssachs@uarts.edu with a reference to your contribution.

Close

1950

1950

City Planning

December 31st, 1950

Albert M. Greenfield parlays his real estate empire into powerful political influence in the Democratic Party, for example in the elections of Joseph Clark, the city’s first Democratic mayor in nearly 70 years, and Richardson Dilworth in the 1950s. During Greenfield’s brief tenure as head of the Philadelphia City Planning Commission, urban renewal became a priority, and with that came the effort to revitalize the city’s core. Greenfield was also a major collector and Philadelphia Museum of Art board member.

Contribute to the Chronology

We welcome public contributions to this chronology! Please email Sid Sachs at ssachs@uarts.edu with a reference to your contribution.

Close

1950

1950

Politics

December 31st, 1950

The Atlantic

From 1950 to 1952, Joseph Clark investigated and publicized scandals within the Republican-controlled city government, including the embezzlement of tax money and court funds, imprisonment of the fire marshal, falsification of records, and corruption in the water bureau. Many officials were impeached or indicted as a result, and nine even committed suicide.

Contribute to the Chronology

We welcome public contributions to this chronology! Please email Sid Sachs at ssachs@uarts.edu with a reference to your contribution.

Close

1950

1950

General Culture

December 31st, 1950

Henry McIlhinney moves to 1914 Rittenhouse Square from Park Gate, his family’s home at Wayne Avenue and Lincoln Drive in Germantown. His collection included numerous works by Degas, Toulouse-Lautrec, Renoir, and others. Connoisseur Magazine named him one of America’s ten best art collectors.

Contribute to the Chronology

We welcome public contributions to this chronology! Please email Sid Sachs at ssachs@uarts.edu with a reference to your contribution.

Contribute to the Chronology

1950

1951

Music

December 31st, 1951

Rocket 88 (a rhythm and blues record written by Ike Turner) is covered by Bill Haley and His Saddleman (later the Comets) by Holiday Record label in Philadelphia owned by Dave Miller. Credited by some as the first rock and roll record.

Contribute to the Chronology

We welcome public contributions to this chronology! Please email Sid Sachs at ssachs@uarts.edu with a reference to your contribution.

Contribute to the Chronology

1950

1952

City Planning

April 27th, 1952

www.phawker.com/

Broad Street Station is closed to make way for Penn Center. The Philadelphia Orchestra plays as the last train departs. The model for Penn Center was Rockefeller Center in New York. Gregory L. Heller, Ed Bacon, Planning, Politics, and the Building of Modern Philadelphia, Philadelphia; The University of Pennsylvania Press, 2013, p99

Contribute to the Chronology

We welcome public contributions to this chronology! Please email Sid Sachs at ssachs@uarts.edu with a reference to your contribution.